


Together, Til The End Of The Line

by HedonistInk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Reality, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, M/M, No bad ending, Not S4 Compliant, Self-Sacrifice, Suicidal Thoughts, only a very brief mention, reality rift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 07:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12476572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedonistInk/pseuds/HedonistInk
Summary: Keith hadn't expected Shiro to dive in after him. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He was supposed to do this alone.He should have known better when Takashi Shirogane was involved.





	Together, Til The End Of The Line

**Author's Note:**

> My gift for arfaise for the Sheith Birthday Exchange! You requested _AU where they save the universe together by closing the rift (sacrificing themselves) that Zarkon has opened and end up in another universe and they just travel together._ I hope this fits what you were looking for! If you have an ao3 account and want me to gift this to you, let me know!
> 
> (Sorry this is a few minutes late! I'm still less than a week post-op from a big surgery and moving a little slower than I expect of myself!) 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are treasured and loved!

When the readings started to go _wrong_ , Keith knew he was in trouble. It didn't take someone with Pidge or Hunk's calculation abilities to figure out what was going to happen. The rift between the worlds was going to collapse _far_ more violently than they'd predicted. And if someone didn't stay until the end… Until it closed… They wouldn't be able to guarantee it wouldn't drag the surrounding galaxy in with it.

Someone had to stay and hold the beam, to keep containing the rift from right inside its edge, to keep pumping altered quintessence at the edge of the rift, destabilizing and collapsing it. He only hoped his efforts would be enough. Black's beam attempting the same thing from the outside of the rift had stopped being effective some time ago. That was when the readings had gone wrong.

Keith hadn't expected Shiro to dive in after him. It wasn't supposed to be that way. What— what was he doing!?

"Shiro— Shiro, what are you doing!?" Keith tried to not let the panic seep into his voice, watching the monitors, watching the output of the readings. "You're supposed to stay up there and use the—"

"Keith, I know you saw it," Shiro cut him off, tone serious. He navigated Black to the side of Keith's ship, turning on the beam mounted to her back. "You and I both saw it, you know what's going to happen. We both knew it the second the readings started deviating from the simulation predictions."

Keith gritted his teeth, hands clenching on the controls. "…I know. That's _why_ you should be _up there._ Not down here. You need to be up _there,_ where you'll be _safe._ "

"It's why I _have to_ be down here, Keith," Shiro answered softly. "Your ship's beam isn't big enough to hold this alone. _You_ can't do this alone."

Keith hesitated before letting out a soft sigh, about to respond when Shiro added, "—But Black can."

"Wh— what?" Keith's head snapped up, staring at the screen. "What are you talking about, Shiro?"

"You should get out of here. …While you still can. Black can— _I_ can hold this by myself. You don't _need_ to be here. You can get _out,_ " Shiro urged, voice taking on a more desperate tone even as the Lion rumbled with the effort of staying in one place against the fierce and constantly-shifting gravity.

Keith frowned, glaring down Shiro's face on his monitor. "I'm _not_ leaving here without you, Shiro."

"Keith, that's an order. You need t—"

" _Mark me down as insubordinate, then!_ " Keith snapped before sighing. "It doesn't exactly matter _now,_ does it? I'm not leaving you alone. Not here. Not now. Not ever again. We're in this together, Shiro."

" _Keith…_ " Keith could hear Shiro's voice crack, desperate as he watched the hole get smaller, the quintessence beams collapsing the rift in on itself. "Please… Get out… Have a _good life_ …"

"I've _had_ a good life, Shiro," Keith was thankful his voice didn't shake as much as his hands were. "It just… it hasn't been a _long_ one. But… I've had you. And that makes it good enough for me."

"Keith…" Shiro was crying now. Keith could hear it in his voice even without looking at the screen.

"You know I never… I never thought I'd find anybody… Dad never stopped talking about how Mom just… _left_. And I think… it kinda popped the whole fairytale disney true love bubble for me pretty early on…" Keith laughed, the sound dry and slightly bitter on his tongue.

Keith hesitated and from the silence he could tell he had Shiro's attention, that Shiro was giving him the floor to say what he needs to. Keith pressed onward, "But then… but then you happened. You with your big dreams and your high expectations of me and your contagious _fucking_ smile. …And you saw me. Out of everyone at the Garrison, you looked at me and… and you saw me. And you made me believe in— in _myself._ I didn't even know that was _possible._ "

The tears on Keith's face didn't stop, but neither did the words on his lips. "I was in love with you before I even realized it. I didn't know you could _fall_ that hard, that fast. It was… It was Disney. It was… _real._ "

"And then you were gone," Keith's tone darkened. "You were gone and… And I was so sure I would never feel anything like that again. I would never feel anything like what I felt for you again. I didn't want to feel _anything_ again. The idea that you were just… _gone_ … I couldn't deal with it. I didn't want to. I didn't want to keep _going._ I thought about… what would happen if I just… _didn't_ keep going."

"But then they ruled it 'Pilot Error'. And… I thought about it. And I thought about… how it was _you._ You weren't some run-of-the-mill pilot. You wouldn't just… You wouldn't fuck up like that. I watched you on the sim, going late into the night until we got caught and they kicked you off and sent you to bed. You were _better_ than that. And nobody was releasing any of the flight data. And that made me so… _mad._ They were covering something up. And I couldn't… I couldn't stop fighting. Not until I knew what really happened. You deserved that much." Keith sniffled, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand, the Blades of Marmora armour a strange scratchy-smooth feeling against his face. He missed his jacket. He would prefer to be wearing that now than this. Hell, he missed his _Lion._ Red was his _friend._

Nodding to himself, Keith pushed his voice to keep going, "And then Voltron happened. And there you were and… And I was so scared things would be different. And… they were, for a while. You'd…. You'd been through so much and I was terrified I couldn't relate to you. And then… when I knew what I was…. _who_ I was… I was terrified you'd hate me for it. But… there you were with your high expectations of me and your contagious smile and… And your hugs were just as warm as I remembered, even with the metal arm."

Keith could hear Shiro chuckle through the comms, smiling back at him slightly with a watery gaze as he wiped his own eyes.

"And even through everything, you were still… _You._ And you still wanted us to be… _us_ and… And I don't even know how I would begin to say how much that meant to me. Because… Because it isn't disney, not anymore, not with all the scars and the death and the war, but… But it is still _real_ and… And I knew you'd always be there for me, no matter where I went, no matter if we were across a room or across a galaxy. And I know you love me. And I love you. And that's _real_." Keith smiled shakily. "…I just wish I could kiss you one more time."

Wiping his eyes again, Keith sniffled. "So let's just… complete the mission, right? Together. Right til the end of the line. Just like it should be," Keith declared, nodding resolutely.

Keith's hands were already clenching on the controls again when Shiro spoke up. "Keith." His tone wasn't pleading anymore. But it wasn't resigned either like when he knew he couldn't stop Keith from doing something foolish. It was… accepting. "Of all the ways I could go out in this war… I'm glad it's by your side. You have been… I never would have gotten this far without you. You're the reason I've kept fighting."

"Shiro, wh—"

"From the moment I saw that ship… All I could think about was getting back to you," Shiro stated softly. "Even in those fighting pits… Seeing things I could never even imagine… All I could think about was you. And that I couldn't… I couldn't let them beat me. Because you were waiting for me to come home."

Shiro huffed softly. "And then I opened my eyes in that lab and… there you were, the boy with the night sky in his eyes, waiting for me to wake up. I think I fell in love with you all over again in that moment. But I wasn't…. I wasn't even sure you still wanted me. But somehow… you did. And you were there for me, you were so… so _patient_ with me, more than I thought I deserved at the time. And sure… things changed, a lot of things changed, even more when we found out about the Blades. But… you were still _my_ Keith. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. How much it still means to me."

Keith watched as Shiro pressed two fingers to his lips before holding them up to the screen. "For what it's worth? I wish I could kiss you one more time too," Shiro commented. "I love you so much."

"I love you too…" Feeling the tears bubbling up again, Keith sniffled out a sob, returning the gesture before nodding again. "Let's do this."

Slowly, Keith increased the power to the beam, increasing the quintessence output being pumped up at the edge of the rift. He could see the brightness of Black's beam increasing next to him as Shiro did the same. He could _watch_ as the rift opening became smaller… And smaller, the edges vibrating and oscillating more violently the smaller it got. It wouldn't be long now.

Then there was a flash, bright and blinding and all-encompassing. And everything around him just… stopped. It not only stopped but it seemed to just… stop existing. _He_ seemed to stop existing. For a brief, brief moment there was… _nothingness._ The total sense of nothingness that had Keith wondering ' _Is this it? Is this all there is when you die? Just… Nothing? I wish I was with Shiro. I wish I was home. He_ **_is_ ** _my home._ **_Shiro._ ** '

Then everything rushed back in a _whoosh_ that had the air being forced out of Keith's lungs so hard it _burned._ And he was back in the fighter ship only the ship was tumbling through the air and the sensors were doing who even _knew_ what. He barely caught sight of one of Black's paws through the front window during one tumble and a glimpse of what looked like a mostly water-based planet on another tumble.

When Keith crashed, he was flung out of his seat, smashing into the front window of his ship with a pained grunt before collapsing to the floor. He groaned, dazed and pained as every fibre of his being seemed to _ache_ simultaneously.

"— _eith!_ Keith, are you there, _Keith!?_ " Shiro's voice came crackling through the comms, sounding about as pained as Keith felt.

" _Ngh…_ M-more or less… Are you… Are you okay…?" What the fuck was that? What the fuck just happened? Weren't they supposed to be dead?

Shiro's groan was long and drawn out. "Aside from the fact that I now know what it feels like to be a bowling pin… Nothing seems broken or bleeding too badly. I'm… My entire panel is fried, Black doesn't even know which way is up right now. I'm… I'm going to get out."

Keith looked at his controls, forcing himself to stand. Possible bruised rib. Shit. Keith clutched at his side. "Mnh… Mine too. I think we crashed together. I'll… I'll meet you out there…"

Carefully, Keith disembarked from his ship, stumbling onto of a strange, unfamiliar planet. Wherever they were, it was very… Green. The life support panel in his mask read green as well, a breathable atmosphere. Keith tugged off his helmet as he headed for the crumpled shape of Black, not far off.

Keith watched as Shiro came all but tumbling out of Black's mouth, staggering to his feet. They both probably had some minor degree of head trauma, even with the impressive protection of Shiro's Paladin helmet. Keith, for one, had a splitting headache.

The moment the two men reached each other, there were hands feeling and checking that the other was solid. Their eyes looked over each other and their scenery, seemingly unsure which to look at first.

"What… what happened…?" Keith asked, bafflement filling his tone. "Aren't… Shouldn't… Are we… _dead?_ "

Shiro looked around, reaching down to pick up a handful of dirt, rubbing it between the fingers of his glove. "No, I… I don't think we are…"

Keith reached out, touching Shiro's face again, first with one hand, then—after sharply ripping off his gloves—with two, palms pressed flat against Shiro's cheeks as he leaned up and stole a kiss. And another. And another after that.

"I don't… understand. Why are… where are…. How are…" Keith couldn't even try to get his questions out, drowning his own words with more kisses that Shiro returned almost desperately, his hands on Keith's waist and his forehead resting against Keith's between breaths.

"I don't know," Shiro shook his head, bringing his hands up to press his palms against Keith's cheeks as well. "I don't know. But… you're alive. You're _alive._ " Shiro laughed, incredulous and overjoyed.

"S-so are you…" Keith laughed, Shiro's smile as contagious as ever. He felt almost delirious with confused joy.

They were alive. They were… they were alive?

_They were alive._

"I love you," Shiro breathed, pulling back just enough to look into Keith's eyes. "I was so sure I'd never get to tell you that to your face again."

Keith could feel himself on the edge of tears again, wondering how many tears he could have in him in one day. "I know. I know, I was… I was so sure… Shiro, I love you. I love you so much. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that—"

Movement caught Keith's eye at the same time as it caught in Shiro's and they spun in unison, both drawing their weapons, prepared to attack.

An alien man, tall, lanky, and obviously Galra stepped out of the tree line, hands steepled in a pose that… did not seem threatening. His clothes, too, weren't what either of them expected, not armour, but rather a soft cloth in earthen tones.

Shiro lowered his bayard only slightly.

Keith didn't lower his knife.

"Welcome, strangers," the Galra greeted them with a smile and a gesture not unlike a curtsey. "You may put your weapons down. You will find no threat here. Welcome to Daibazaal."

Shiro's hand threaded into Keith's and squeezed. "…Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore…"

**Author's Note:**

> Also find me on [tumblr @InterdictedInk](http://interdictedink.tumblr.com/) and [twitter @InterdictedInk!](http://twitter.com/interdictedink)


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